Zotac 1080Ti mini getting too loud

Dave Burton · 2 Apr 2020 at 17:01

I have this card. It's great, it really is. But, with small size and power hungry chip comes great heat. Great heat means needing more airflow, two fans and small heatsink mean MORE AIRFLOW at louder volumes. I have some questions:

1: The boost clock listed on their website states 1620 Mhz, yet I regularly see it spiking to ~1850ish, is this normal? Could this be underclocked/volted without too greatly impacting performance, I game at 2K @ 144Hz.
2: Short of full blown water cooling (which I'm considering at a cost vs new card trade-off), is there an astetically pleasing way of adding more cooling power to this card, but something that could be removed with little effort when I come to upgrade. I'm aware of the likes of the Arctic Cooling products, but they require attaching of RAMsinks and coolers to the mosfets, which looks very DIY, now what you want in a windowed RGB case.
3: A bigger case, and MOAR FANZ! Would this help or would I be pushing air for the sake of it? I currently have a 280mm rad in front, pulling air in, and the PSU + a 140mm fan venting, one top one bottom, fairly standard for a Fractal Mini C.
4: turning the PSU 180 degrees, so the extract is at the top, under the GPU, I'd have concern that this could starve the GPU of what little air it's already getting.

I upgraded to this card from a standard 1080 3-fan jobber, and the noise level difference is noticable, especially late at night. Just looking for pointers.

p.s. not sure if this should have gone under Graphics cards, but more related to cooling so here i r !!

Ta.

DB

Edit: forgot to state temps average out under load at mid 80's which I'm aware is "normal" for the Ti cards, in comparison the old non-Ti used to hit 58 degrees max.

Dave Burton · 2 Apr 2020 at 19:56

prjwebb said:
Could always go the route of an NXZT G12 bracket with an AIO. That's what I use on my 1080ti.

~~Does that offer active cooling for VRM's? I've seen it now you've mentioned it, has a fan over the original metalwork for cooling?~~ How do you find temps with it installed?

Edit: read a bit more carefully, looks decent, many thanks!

Dave Burton · 2 Apr 2020 at 21:21

Well, I've taken the plunge and ordered a Corsair H55 to pair with the Kraken G12, AS I've only got room for a 120mm AIO. Even if it gets temps down to 50-60 degrees I'll be happier. I'll also try undervolting, I hd no idea Afterburner could be used on non-MSI kit, I learned something new today

Thanks all for the assist xx

DB

Dave Burton · 2 Apr 2020 at 22:05

Wow, undervolting was easy. Watched a couple of guides, already shaved 9 degrees of temps, lowering fan speed to match!

Nevermind, it's gone back up to 82 degrees, oh well...

Dave Burton · 2 Apr 2020 at 23:19

tyler_jrb said:
Best way to do it is open the voltage curve graph. Set the core clock to a negative number say -200 so it’s roughly in line with your desired frequency. Drag a point up matching speed and voltage. Say 1850mhz at 0.8v and then tick on afterburner which will do a steady increase and then a dead line at the desired frequency/voltage under load. Should be able to get to 0.7-0.8v I’d have thought at 1800ish MHz.

I think I'm doing this right, but trying to set the voltage so low nets me a black screens, and it all goes back to normal. I think I'll hang fire till I can offer better cooling, then mess about a bit...

Dave Burton · 7 Apr 2020 at 16:26

Well, fallen at the first hurdle. The NZXT arrived, but I'd need to fit ramsinks, and I don't really want to do that as I'd like to be able to easily restore the card to defaults, just in case. Oh well

Dave Burton · 8 Apr 2020 at 09:31

WOOO! Managed to locate teeny VRM heatinks with thermal tape, so they can be removed at a later date, just have to wait for them to arrive now

Dave Burton · 14 Apr 2020 at 16:44

Well, the case that was supposed to arrive Saturday having paid specifically for it to do so, didn't. The VRM heatsinks that were "UK STOCK" weren't and are now coming from Trumps favourite place, CHY-NAH!!! The G12 arrived, as did my Pure Wings 2, so I'm a bit stuck waiting for the postie to deliver

Bit ****** off to be honest, crawling the walls right now ><

Dave Burton · 15 Apr 2020 at 20:18

Well, today I learned a few things.

1. The Fractal Design C is nothing more than a 3" taller version of the Mini C, and that it was a waste of £100 as I still cannot fit my 280MM rad up top. Also, there's no ******* way you can put a fan in the bottom as per FD's website, too many cables!!!
2. I need to get an R6, and 2 extra ML140 fans.
3. I GOTTA stop drunk ordering random crap without sleeping on it.
4. See #3!!!
5. Re-doing ALL THEM CABLES is a pain in the ass, someone needs to find a much better way of doing cabling.

One thing I will say is that moving from the Mini C's plastic & metal side panel to tempered glass was worth it, it reeks of quality and style. Love that bit.

DB.

Dave Burton · 15 Apr 2020 at 20:37

I did it again!!! R6 TG ordered, along with 2 more ML140 RGB fans. I must be mad!!!

Dave Burton · 17 Apr 2020 at 16:45

kidloco said:
Haha, I think I have what you have.

All my stuff arrived (G12 and X52 240mm)

Was all going swimmingly well. Old cooler came off with no issues. Cleaned up the card and started fitting the G12 to it. Again all to easy.

I fitted the foam pads as per the instructions. THen when tightening the AIO on noticed then were pressing on bits of the card causing the PCB to bend.

So removed the foam.

Tricky bit over I thought, just time to fit the rad to the top of the case (Phanteks P400a) which is supposed to take the rad fine.

What it does tell you is that there is so light clearance between that and the CPU mount that fitting the rad and fan directly over the CPU is a no go. I was spitting feathers at this moment.

Started looking at 140 rads, bigger cases, motherboards to see if any had the CPU lower....

In the end I have just fitted the 240 rad with 1 fan. Far from ideal I know, but it works and I'm still getting good temps.

This is far from the end, ill sort it tonight when I have a clear head and the slight rage has gone.

Oh, the X52 is a bloody cable nightmare, cables everywhere so I need to try and tidy that later as well.

Yeah, it's a disease, an expensive but FUN disease!!! My R6 arrived, to be honest it's the case I'd always wanted but at the same time I like Matx and the uniqueness it offers, time for that to end!!! I've now realised that the case was MADE for 140mm fans and big rads, I'm now concerned that my Corsair 115i Pro still won't fit up top, but like you I might just go single fan or adapts a couple of spare 120mm's to suit, if clearance is an issue. I've now ordered 3 additional ML140 Pro fans, posty was chuckling today asking if Ebay had any stock left ><

On a plus: I got the R6, with tempered glass AND usb-c for £90, delivered, open box return via the bay, very chuffed with that one!

Dave Burton · 19 Apr 2020 at 11:06

kidloco said:
I’m just going to ditch the 360 cpu rad and replace with a 240 one. That way I can them all setup asthenosphere should be.

I’m I did look at other cases that could support a 360 and 240 rads but none take my fancy.

edit: scratch that. The mobo would still foul the 2nd fan on the top rad.

I did look at the r6 and says it only supports rads of 35 mm on top. Both mine with the fans are more than that.

back to the drawing board.

edit 2: hmm, the R6 and Meshify S2 would work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-JCGTBAQKs

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I think you've misread that matey, the clearance is the compnent height of the motherboard, as long as your RAM is >35mm in height it shouldn't foul... I'm praying that my lovely low-ish profile Corsair ram will not be an issue. I also had another "awwwww crap" moment when I realised I had gotten a 120mm AIO for the GPU, but ordered a 140mm RGB fan for the rear exhaust, so another AIO on it's way!!! Getting a bit silly now. but I'm commited (or should be!!!!) now!

Dave Burton · 28 Apr 2020 at 18:05

My R6 is now all up and running, with a total of SIX 140mm fans, all running on low-ish settings, however the VRM heatsinks from china for the GPU AIO mod, despite being the perfect size, are of no use as the thermal tape just does not stick >:(

Also, I've now noticed that the pump head on the H115i platinum does NOT match the fans any more, I saw and posted about something similar in another thread saying I'd not seen it... well now I have!!! #gutted

I opted to keep the 280mm rad up front as an intake, on a side note the Fractal R6 WILL easily hold the H115I platinum up top, as long as the RAM is low profile, I just did not like the look, it looked... cramped?

Does anyone have any suggestions for some decent double sided heatsink tape, I only need a very small amount and loathe to pay for a full pad...

DB

Dave Burton · 30 Apr 2020 at 12:09

I officially give up. New thermal tape arrived from OcUk today, and it also does not adhere to the VRM's, I've cleaned, re-cleaned and cleaned them over and over using IPA and solvent cleaners, NOTHING seems to want to stick. I think my options now are to:

A: Give up (most likely option here now)
B: Obtain a faulty 1080Ti mini and butcher the heatsink to cool the VRM's, allowing the use of the G12/AIO
C: Obtain a tri-fan 1080Ti (not looking likely as costs are rising again it seems)
D: Swap out to a 9700XT
E: wait till the 3x series gets released, and pray the second hand 1x/2x markets flood

Bit gutted now, really wanted to get this going.

Dave Burton · 30 Apr 2020 at 23:04

kidloco said:
Do you need heat sinks ?

I don’t have any on my 1080ti with the G12 fitted. Just using the fan it came with. Everything is nice and cool.

I've asked this in another thread, glad I've found someone that's actually done it!! I'm going to go for it but not tonight, far too tired, thank you for confirming!!!

Dave Burton · 1 May 2020 at 10:28

kidloco said:
Yeah it’s fine mate. Saw one vid on YouTube where they tested with and without. Made no difference. My 1080ti idles mid 20s and under stress test tops out at 54 fans running in silent mode. If it was necessary the g12 would ship with them.

Well, I went for it, got up early and thought I'd just do it. It did not go well. THe G12 install was fine, but with being a mini card, the cooling fan only covered maybe a 3rd of the VRMs and they got super hot, SUPER fast. Hard locked PC after a short while, couldn't touch the VRM's at all, actually burnt my finger

The cooler seems to be doing it's thang, the rad got warm and temps were around 57 degrees on teh core, the VRM cooling appeared to be the issue. I've officialy given up for now.

Thanks everyone for the input, can't wait to get access to the MM, got a ton of now unused and brand new hardware to shift

Dave Burton · 1 May 2020 at 12:11

kidloco said:
That sucks, if the fan isn't hitting them at all then even adding the tiny heatsinks surely wouldn't fix it either. It would help but you gotta have airflow to dissipate the heat.

One last thing to try before you hand in the towel.

Have a look on the rainforest for "Gelid" PCI Slot Fan Holder with two slim 120mm UV Fans

If the G12 fan isn't hitting the VRM then maybe this would. Just an idea.

I've sat yet another 140mm fan directly under the GPU to feed it some cooler air, temps under load now a few degrees lower, and have set the GPU fan to an auto profile it's a little better than what it was, an acceptible trade-off I guess